Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who wrote a book in 2021 titled, "How to Avoid a Climate Disaster," now says leaders need to shift their approach to climate change.
In a letter published Tuesday ahead of next week's COP30 U.N. climate summit, Gates argued that too many resources are focused on emissions and the environment, and that more money should go toward "improving lives" and curbing disease and poverty.
"... Climate is super important but has to be considered in terms of overall human welfare," Gates told CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin in an exclusive interview. "I didn't pick that position because everybody agrees with it – it's I think intellectually the right answer."
In the letter, Gates called out the "doomsday view" of climate change and said leaders need to make a "strategic pivot" to focus on issues that have the "greatest impact on human welfare."
"It's the best way to ensure that everyone gets a chance to live a healthy and productive life no matter where they're born, and no matter what kind of climate they're born into," he wrote.
Breakthrough Energy, Gates' climate-focused investment fund, reportedly cut dozens of staffers earlier this year. The New York Times reported in March that the "change shows how Mr. Gates is retooling his empire for the Trump era."
This year's climate summit in Brazil comes nearly a decade after world leaders adopted the Paris Climate Agreement aimed at limiting temperature warming to 1.5 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Gates called that original goal unrealistic.